The sky is no limit in a series of exhibits coming to Midland

Courtesy PhotoArtwork from the exhibit "In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight," on display at the Midland Center for the Arts through April 1.

Jim Church stood in the main gallery at the Alden B. Dow
Museum of Science and Art, holding up the skeletal wing of a Cub airplane as
director Bruce Winslow assembled the centerpiece of the Sky Designs II exhibit,
"and all I could think was, 'This is so cool,'" said the president of the Mid-Michigan
Model Makers.

"It was like I was building a one-to-one scale model!"

And it's just the beginning of Space. Sky. Sci-Fi., a series
of exhibits that opened last week with In Plane View: Abstractions of Flight.
On Saturday, Jan. 14, it will continue with Touch the Sky: Cloud Photography by
Fran Gardino and Sky Designs II: A Collection of Aviation and Aircraft
Artifacts.

The exhibits that inspired it all, Giant Worlds: Voyage to
the Outer Solar System and Out of This World: Extraordinary Costumes from Film
and Television, open to the public on Saturday, Jan. 28.

"It kind of came about through the same process I go through
each time," Winslow said, taking a break from installing the aircraft hanging
from the gallery rafters and the photography filling the walls.

"The cornerstone exhibit is Giant Worlds, looking at the
planets that are pretty out there, the ones we know the least about. It's
timely as the Juno Mission tells us more about Jupiter, and it's the one that's
going to get the yellow buses here.

"Drawing school groups is key to an exhibit's success, and at
the same time, with the opening of Out of This World, Winslow will snag the
non-traditional museumgoer with vintage costumes from the popular films and
television series.

Look for George Clooney's Batman costume, hats from the
Wizard of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West, a light saber from Star Wars' Darth
Vader and the Star Fleet uniform of Star Trek: The Next Generation's Captain
Picard.

From there, Winslow said, it's about what else they can do
to flesh it out, and in this case, it's enough to fill every gallery.

"From a curator's point of view, this is the more aesthetic part
of the equation," he said. "The other exhibits handle the science end of things
and so it comes to artistically enhancing the experience, and looking for a way
to do it for peanuts.

"This is what I do, looking within the community and start sniffing
things out."

He started with the Midland Radio Control Modelers Club – "I
just gawked at the aircraft, all hand-built," he said – and then connected with
the Mid-Michigan Model Makers.

"They get down to the –nth degree, working in so much detail
that you'll see the carbon stains on the wings," Winslow said. "One of the builders
works in such small detail that he uses a magnifying lens like the one surgeons
use in the operating room."

Members of the group will spend a few Saturdays at the museum,
where visitors can see them build their aircraft and create their own in a
make-and-take project. And Winslow worked with the Saginaw Valley Air Museum at
the Harry W. Browne Airport in Buena Vista and the Yankee Air Museum near the
Willow Run Airport in Wayne County to surround what he calls the nitty-gritty
of the modelers' work with interesting artifacts.

But he never thought he'd actually construct a full-size
plane.

"We already have plans hanging everywhere, with wing spans
of 10 inches to 150 inches," he said. "But that skeletal Cub, a complete
fuselage, wings, runners, and an engine busted wide open so you can see what it's
about, that's something.

Courtesy PhotoArtwork from the exhibit "Touch the Sky: Cloud Photography by Fran Gardino," on display Saturday, Jan. 14, through April 29 at the Midland Center for the Arts.

"We have complete jet engines, too, one weighs 3,000 pounds
and a bomb and an old aviation helmet and more gizmos than you can imagine."

Rounding out Sky Designs II are mounted photos from the U.S.
Navy's Blue Angels, aerial shots of the precision stunt flyers.

"The pictures are magnificent," Winslow said. "We even have
Navy jets breaking the sound barrier, with sensational vapor trails behind
them. This is what makes visitors learn in a fun way, the dads and the
10-year-old boys.

"It's incredible up there," he added, and Church agreed.

"The things they have at their disposal, with the added
photos, really captures the depth of aviation," Church said. "Our club members
don't just do aircraft, so that's just part of our interest. I taught history
in the Saginaw public schools for years, and was in Civil War reenactment
groups so the history of the pieces are important to me.

"Some do this to relax, some of us are pretty competitive. I
like the research, and bringing a real piece of history to life."

Sky Designs II takes that to a new dimension, he said, "and
hopefully, it will interest some people to try building model of their own. We're
always looking for more people to become involved."

Gardino's cloud photography sets the stage with shots taken
from an airplane, looking down on the cloud cover from above. Printed on
canvas, they are museum-quality reproductions, photos with the look of fine
art.

And In Plane View features more than 50 of Carolyn Russo's
large-format photographs, bringing a fresh perspective as it uses color, shape
and form in capturing the iconic aircraft at the National Space and Air Museum.

"She focuses on a sub-section, creating an abstract piece
similar to what we had earlier in our exhibits on Italian automobiles and
motorcycles," Winslow said.

The exhibits also offer a historical perspective through
their chronological placement, from the Wright brothers to the space age.

"It's a big collection of many, many things, a treasure
trove of all kinds of stuff," he said. "When we bring in Giant Worlds and the
costumes in, we'll fill all the perimeters. No matter if you turn left or right
when you get off the stairs, you're going to find something to see. It's quite
a whirlwind."